Category: Conway Daily Sun

T-Minus…

…something like 25 days.

I got confirmation from USF–Iraq my paperwork is complete on their end. I still have one more thing to do, get my visa from the Iraqi government, but otherwise I’m good on that end. At least, that is, as far as paperwork is concerned.

My ballistic goggles are supposedly on their way, along with some ballistic sunglasses. I’ve made arrangements to rent a bulletproof vest for two weeks for something around $200. With that comes rifle plates and a kevlar helmet. The $200 figure may be wrong, but regardless its significantly less than the $2,000 buying that stuff would cost me.

I’m starting to realize I’m actually going. I am looking at dates for meetings I’m supposed to cover and realizing I won’t be here for them (tonight it was a public hearing about the transfer station). I am looking forward to having some time to dedicate to improving my radio reporting and how I tell stories with sound, which this period should allow me.

I was interviewing someone for a follow up piece about long-term pass holders at Wildcat today, and they mentioned they’d heard my piece on NHPR on the Cascade mill. And yesterday I got a comment on Facebook from a friend and former Memorial Hospital board member about how much they liked my article on health care in the Sun. I’ve been busy lately, and it’s had an impact. People are noticing stories.

But at the same time I’m trying to squeeze stories like that of the Cascade mill into a day of reporting, and then further squeeze it into four minutes. That’s tough. I colleague commented that they expected more from my mill story, because of the depth and severity of the situation. I can see that perspective. I talked with someone today who was instrumental in getting Fraser involved the last time the mills were in trouble, and he didn’t think this proposal has a chance. That’s a hard story to tell, though it may be true, and yet at this point it’s only one person’s opinion. I’ve said before I think the North Country needs a documentary, not a sound byte, because the interwoven future, past and present are so complex.

But that’s hard to do with a full time job. That’s hard to do with a daily deadline. That’s why I’m looking forward to a different kind of daily deadline—the kind connected to a radio deadline. The breadth of the stories waiting to be told both here and elsewhere are breathtaking. This trip will be a good “boot camp” for that work.

Newsroom Conversation

I have to admit, working in a newsroom certainly has it’s perks. I spent yesterday as part of an editorial board asking the CEO of the local hospital questions about how health care reform will impact his organization, and then in the afternoon the office was discussing how opinion veiled as news affects democracy. I don’t see reporting as just a job—it’s part of the underpinnings of our government, of our ability to self-govern. Careful, concerted practice of the trade leads to a more informed public.

But what is a concerted practice of journalism? It doesn’t have laws. It moves and flows and needs to be debated and discussed. Working in an office, where those debates happen on the fly, is a great change. It’s a chance to test those ideas out, and have them challenged by other practitioners. It inspires spirited, constructive debate, which is what journalism is supposed to do in the first place.

In Limbo

I’m still waiting to hear whether I’m going to get to keep doing the New Hampshire Grand Initiative videos. They’ve got some concerns about liability, which we’re working on addressing, but for now the Grand Adventurer isn’t adventuring (officially, that is).

But today I get to do something else extremely rewarding in the North Country. North Country Education Services is an organization that works to promote excellence in the North Country education. They work with the schools to create opportunities for kids, and today I got to be part of one of those.

NCES put on a middle school film festival, where middle school students wrote, shot, starred in and edited movies about healthy living and healthy lifestyles. Their associate executive director, Lori Langois, is doing a leadership program with me, and she asked me if I would serve as host for an awards ceremony.

It was great. I got to read out the winners for best editing, best cinematography, best picture and the rest. I was handing out awards to fifth through eight graders (the first time I’ve ever been the tallest person on stage).

In journalism it can be challenging, because you need to keep your distance from every interest. No man is an island, but it is hard to serve on a board or put your support behind causes in a small community because you wind up covering those causes. I’ve already interviewed friends and former employers for stories at the Sun. That’s a tough place to be, because even if the story is evenhanded a possible bias exists.

But I’ve always been a champion of Coös. I’ve always felt as the reporter I was responsible for representing the interests of the people, whatever that means. But I couldn’t throw my hat in the ring, in many respects, because I might be interviewing the people in that ring a few weeks later. Now, however, I’m free of that burden—at least in Coös County. I don’t cover these communities nearly as much anymore, so I have the opportunity to throw my energy behind organizations there without having to worry about the appearance of favoritism.

I’m hoping I can work out something with the Initiative, but if not that’s OK. Either way, I’ve found a great place to invest my energy: Coös.

Wading Through

I’ve been reporting for The Conway Daily Sun for more than two months now, and I think I’m starting to get things figured out. But now that I’m at a daily, I’ve started wading through topics that take me two to three days to report on. It’s a complexity I enjoy, but with a lot of work.

First, the backstory:

I broke a story about state legislators looking to add a $3 fee to AMC and RMC accommodations in the White Mountains last week, which launched me into a story about who pays what taxes. The AMC and the RMC offer similar (although not the same) accommodations on the sides of the mountains, including stays in rustic huts. A lot of people think the AMC and the RMC don’t pay the state’s 9 percent rooms and meals tax, so when it came to adding a $3 fee, people thought it seemed fair.

One problem—the AMC does pay the rooms and meals tax. Or, more accurately, they pay the rooms tax. Non-profits have an exemption from the meals side of things, but the AMC pays roughly $260,000 in lodging taxes (including some meals tax from their Highland Center, which has to pay the meals portion because they have a liquor license).

But the RMC doesn’t pay. Never has.

If you’re familiar with the two, you might say, “Hey, wait, but the RMC huts are simple, not the full service hotels the AMC offers.” And you would be right. But the AMC pays the lodging tax on all their huts’ operations, including the year round operations of huts like Carter Notch and Zealand, which, in the winter, are just a caretaker, just like the RMC’s huts.

Add to this mix that the Dartmouth Outing Club, which runs seven cabins that are open to the public and one lodge, reportedly does not pay the lodging tax either. And the Mount Washington Observatory does not either, and they provide accommodations for some guided climbers. I’m still waiting to hear back from the Harvard Mountaineering Club about their cabin in Huntington Ravine, but there are a lot of questions floating around.

I’m still trying to sort out who should be doing what. There are some exemptions out there, like one for non-profits running educational programs (the Observatory pointed that one out), but the fact that one non-profit is paying the tax while others aren’t does make you wonder. I’ve been on and off the phone with the state Department of Revenue Administration about this, but I’ve still got a ways to go before I’m clear.

Why does this matter? Because the state is starving for money, firstly, and they (or we, as it is government by and for the people) can’t afford to let money fall through the cracks. But more importantly if a non profit is offering a service that competes with local businesses (like, for example, lodging) they shouldn’t have any unfair advantages without providing some public good. Tax payers agree to give these organizations a break, but they have to be fulfilling some larger purpose. If a hiker hostel in Gorham has to pay 9 percent to the state for housing hikers then the AMC should, the DOC should, and so should everyone else. If the AMC or DOC is offering some additional educational opportunity, or something else, then there is a justification for the break. But as a matter of fairness, local businesses can’t compete with organizations that get a 9 percent subsidy. It would be unreasonable to ask them to.

So, as I look into this story, I’m wading through tax statutes, DRA rules, and legalese. It isn’t the most exciting topic, but it is something worth getting to the bottom of.

But it does take a toll on the daily news pace. Try to go through a crash course in tax law in a day, and see how many other news stories you can write.

Three Dollars

Members of The state legislature are trying to add a $3 fee to overnight accommodations in the White Mountains to help pay for hiker rescues. I keep calling people to get their opinions on this, and it turns out they have not yet heard about the effort. Even the senator who proposed the bill wasn’t clear on the specifics. Not the easiest story to report, but whatever. I figure people ought to know so they can weigh in.
They should also know that hikers require roughly seven times as many rescues as any other user group in New Hampshire, and they currently do not contribute to the state’s search and rescue fund.
So what is fair? I’m interested to hear where this goes as the story develops.

Always Moving

I’ve been looking at courses, ranging from photography to radio production to video, and trying to figure out how to squeeze them in after I’ve already used up all my vacation for Iraq. The field of journalism is changing, and today it takes a full basket to be worth hiring. Right now I’ve got a great job (one I’ve been thoroughly enjoying), but growing comfortable is a sure recipe for disaster.

I’m trying to figure out more international reporting trips and ways I can grow that way, as well as sign up for classes to take to grow my skills. The pace of the 20th century newsroom is such that to sit down for any length of time is to fall behind.

It’s hard to imagine what other form newspapers can take, but it’s exciting too. I’m not a newspaper reader, truthfully, if by newspaper you mean on paper made of dead trees. I read the New York Times, but I do it on an iPhone. It’s free (although I’d be willing to pay), and in a sense I’m an example of the problem of the business model.

But at the same time I tell stories that citizens need to hear in order to govern themselves, and I do it in print. I was talking to a Conway selectman today about an issue that will come up in town meeting in April, when residents will vote on it, and he was lamenting how ill-informed many voters are. They passed up on building a new town garage, he said, despite it costing the same as repairing the old one. It was an example of the wisdom of the voter failing, he said, because they were poorly informed.

Who or what is going to inform them in the future? I’m not sure. But the new tools with which it is possible to inform are exciting, and I plan to be on that forefront. Journalism may be in trouble in some places, but it’s only because the new business model hasn’t been unearthed. It will be, and when it is I’ll be there. Now where is that course schedule…

Election Night

Tonight is going to be busy. At 8 p.m. I head to the office to put together Wednesday’s paper, which will have all the latest news about the 2010 election, assuming the ballots are counted by 11 p.m. tonight. At the mayoral election last year I was able to tweet the race results as they came into Berlin city hall, but this overall is a much larger effort. 2009 was not a banner year for races, other than local ones, while this should be.

The daily news cycle is a different beast than that of a weekly, and the differences are worth experiencing. The push for a morning paper that has all the results is something I never worried about before; with a Monday deadline, Tuesday’s results never made it. Any big stories would be addressed the next week, and smaller issues would fall to the daily. Now I am the daily (although not in the grand form of how I was the weekly, where I did everything in the paper, including photos), and those tasks fall to me.

I talked to the woman who is taking my place at the Reporter yesterday. I did what I could to reassure her that the job is not just doable but rewarding. I remember the first day I started, and the first week, having no idea what I was going to write about to fill the paper. Reporting, largely, is about knowing a community. In a job like the Reporter, where there is no permanent staff, no permanent foundation, it’s a rebirth every time a new reporter starts. I felt a bit of that my first week at the Daily Sun, but it is entirely different. The fact there is an office, other reporters, and a phone messaging system means the same realities do not apply.

And they teach different things, different skills. I see stories everywhere now, even in places I don’t know well. That is a result of working for the Reporter. If you ask enough questions, everyone has a story to tell, some just take digging to get to.

The Sun, however, is about finding those stories, digging, and telling those stories quickly. Deadlines are no less important than facts in many news environments. So for that, I’ll be up tonight, counting the votes.

Senate Bills and Such

Senate Bill 500 has been a hot topic in the state, and already I’ve written three stories on it in my new job. It deals with parole and release from prison, and what supports the state should provide to people getting released.

SB 500 has exploded in recent weeks because of some of the people it will affect. One of them is a registered sex offender who was out on parole when he assaulted a 16 year old girl.

It’s an interesting discussion, particularly because when the words “sexual predator” come up emotions trump reason. I’ve been told privately by several people they’d like to see sex offenders thrown in jail for life, killed or sterilized. That’s a far cry from an early release with state support to reintroduce them into society.

I’m still looking for facts on this, not just figures, but the discussion really comes down to whether sex offenders are fundamentally different than other criminals, and if their rights under the law are therefore different. What should happen when a sex offender reaches the end of their sentence?

According to the state attorney general’s office, the research shows that criminals are most likely to re-offend in the first eight months after their release from prison. By that rational, it makes sense to give former inmates supports for that period. Now, that research doesn’t deal with sex offenders specifically, so in the Conway case that is still up for debate, but otherwise it seems a win for both those convicted and society as a whole: individuals get supports that keep them from re-offending, and society experiences fewer crimes.

But this breaks down about where victims enter the equation. For some people prison is about rehabilitation, but for others it’s about retribution. Some people are bound to look at nine months of freedom as nine months those people don’t deserve. And they aren’t wrong.

And, when it comes to sex offenders, those emotions are understandable even if you don’t agree.

But how should it be enshrined by the law? SB500 has two parts that trouble people: the 90 day limit on parole violations, and the nine month early release program with monitoring. The monitoring structure hasn’t been set up yet, and victims don’t want to see a violator going to prison for 90 days if they have committed a crime.

There seems to be a solution for both: set up the monitoring program, and differentiate between parole violations and criminal acts. The monitoring program will cost money in the short term, but over the long term it will save corrections dollars and provide benefits to both convicts and society. That makes sense, even if it costs now. And tweak the law so if a parole violation is as a result of a criminal act the 90 day limit does not apply. That would give victim’s families confidence they won’t be subjected to repeated run-ins with offenders every six months, but it sets up the guidelines to govern parole violations that SB500 was enacted to address.

But in an election year, where this has become debate for the partisans, discussion is hard to come by. I’ll be interested to see where this goes, and whether people backpedal from what is essentially a good law.

And no one disagrees on that. Even the law’s most ardent critic, who’s daughter was targeted by a registered sex offender, thinks the law has value. He is concerned about specifics, however, and rightly so. But it seems the debate over the law has been fueled by an imprecise reading (and imprecise characterizations in the media). There are several measures to roll it back that will go before the house and the senate this week. It will be interesting to see where they go, and to see how the debate evolves over time.

First Week

What a week! My first week is over, and it was great.

Granted, some of the stories I covered weren’t all that uplifting, but several others were important discussions about the direction the state should go. I’ll have an interesting piece in Tuesday’s paper about what impact Senate Bill 500 has on the state (it’s not what you think.)

And the daily deadline, the daily pressure, is great. It motivates me and pushes me in ways I need. The office environment is great as well, with interesting discussions and perspectives that push my reporting.

I also get to cover a lot of the hard news. Whether it’s accidents or legislation, it lands on my desk. That’s how I prefer it.

And I’ve got the time and the resources to do more verification than I ever had before. The office helps out so much in that respect, because it’s a place where people can count on reaching me.

I am looking forward to when a few of my freelance projects settle down, so I can get caught up and stop running around like crazy. In time, I guess.

Most importantly, however, I resubmitted my Iraq application with new dates (I didn’t realize I wouldn’t hear until rather late in the game, and so I held off on buying tickets.) And I bought a plane ticket to Kuwait. I found out I can rent bulletproof gear, so I won’t have to spend $2,000 on equipment. It’s a January journey that should be both challenging and exhilarating. I am looking forward to doing justice to the stories of the troops so far from home, in the conflict that is now second priority.

So things are taking off, and I’ll have no rest until February.

First Day

I wrote about a pedestrian who got hit by a truck and a man who drowned int he Swift River yesterday. Not exactly a slow start to the new job.

But I have a desk, and other people to talk to, and an office with a kitchen. The little luxuries…

But again, as the Fraser mill nears the deadline, I can’t help but to be drawn north. The experience and proficiency I’ll gain by working at a daily are important, but I don’t want to lose sight of other long-term projects. I’m trying to pitch a larger, more nationally focused version of my NHPR story it I can, hopefully to air before the mill closes.

By the way, if you missed my NHPR piece, you can listen to it here.

And check out my new paper, the Conway Daily Sun.